Four share first-round lead in Munich

Carly Booth, Carin Koch, Caroline Westrup and Stefanie Michl each shot five under par 67 to share the first round lead in the UniCredit Ladies German Open presented by Audi.

Booth, who won her first Ladies European Tour title at her home event in Scotland three weeks ago, made five birdies on the back nine at Golfpark Gut Häusern near Munich to grab a share of the lead after a two hour weather delay mid-afternoon.

“It was just trying to be patient. It was a slow front nine: was only level par through nine but then birdied 10 and 11 and nearly holed my shot on 13 and tapped in for birdie. I parred 14, 15 and 16 and then birdie, birdie to finish,” said Booth, 19. “It was just very solid, especially my last nine. The front nine I missed quite a few putts so I could have been a lot more under par but I left a lot of putts short. I’m happy with today’s round.”

Sweden’s Koch, who tied for third in Turkey a fortnight ago, mixed seven birdies with two bogeys.

“It’s really fun to play good golf and I really like this golf course so it’s nice to come here and play well. I played pretty steady today and made some good putts which you have to if you’re going to shoot a low score. I’m happy about my game,” said Koch, who has her husband Stefan on the bag.

Michl had a bogey-free round containing five birdies and said: “I played pretty solid. I hit loads of greens and I hit some quite close. I had a lot of chances for birdie and I just had two up and downs that I made.”

Westrup’s 67 matched her third round score from the same tournament 12 months ago, when she earned a career best finish of equal seventh in the event.

She commented: “I’m pleased. I left a few birdie shots out there but I played solid off the tee and my irons were my strength today. I rolled in some putts when I need to and hit good shots, so gave myself a lot of opportunities.

“I really did not set out a specific score today. I did not play my best golf in Turkey so I did not have any expectations on a score. I felt that I did two good practice rounds and I feel my game has been good since I came back from Turkey. I went home and practised a lot. Just follow my game plan and one shot at a time.”

Swede Pernilla Lindberg and Czech teen Klara Spikova were a stroke back on four under.

“I was off to a rocky start and a little wild to start off with but on the back nine I managed to keep the ball on the fairway a little bit more and that helped. My putting was really good today,” Lindberg said.

“The greens are rolling really true so if you put yourself in a position, it’s going to be a birdie-fest out here. You need to roll it good and make some good putts.”

Spilkova said: “I’m so tired today. It was really long because the storm was here. I was a little bit disappointed because I hate storms, but I’m so happy and looking forward to tomorrow.”